Juan Williams on Brandeis University's Use of a Swastika with Tea Parties

John Stossel - Teaching Capitalism in our Schools

Obama, Econ Professor, and Tests

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class.  That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A...

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.  The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.  As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D!  No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that. (Please pass this on)

Remember, there is a test coming up.  The mid-term election in 2010!

Medved Mixing It Up with College Students at Washington University

Regime Based on Oil

 

"I am a revolutionary communist..."

Pro-Choice Mom Shocked at School's Secrecy In Aborting Daughters Baby -- Parental Rights Watch

Middle School Protests -- Parental Rights Undermined

Libertarian Republican Import -- Texas Textbooks and Giants in Economics

Hayek, Milton Friedman added to Texas Textbooks

MAJOR VICTORY FOR LIBERTARIANS!!

Thanks to the efforts of the hardright conservative majority on the Texas Board of Education, two Libertarian Giants in Economics will now be studied in State High Schools.

From the NY Times, Justin Wolfers (Freakonomics), "Hayek propped up by Government Intervention", March 15:

How do they plan to rewrite high school economics?

In economics, the revisions add Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek, two champions of free-market economic theory, to the usual list of economists to be studied – economists like Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes

Wolfers goes on to heartily approve of Friedman's inclusion, but not necessarily of Hayek. He believes him to be too obscure, based on relatively low amount of Google searches he receives in relation to other better known economists:

Sure, Hayek was an insightful economist. But insisting that high schools teach Hayek is a clear statement of ideology, not of economic science.

Free Market Mojo blogger responds to Wolfers:

Um, what’s the problem? Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek are tremendously influential figures, not just in the field of economics. Can a truly honest study of the past century ignore their contributions to the world? I don’t think so. Mention them and criticize them if you must, but don’t ignore them.

There were other changes of note. Interestingly, the term "capitalism" was replaced in the textbooks by "free enterprise." additionally, early reports from Leftist bloggers had Thomas Jefferson removed from any mention in history books. This is incorrect. Jefferson was removed from only discussions of the enlightenment section not of American history. (Source: Village Voice)

Fixing Schools -- ReasonTV

Cleveland’s public schools are failing to prepare students for their futures and as a result, all parents who can afford to have been fleeing to the suburbs for decades. Yet some urban schools, like Think College Now in Oakland, California are finding out that a combination of administrative autonomy and accountability can lead to amazing results. Within Cleveland’s own boundaries, charter schools are booming and delivering quality education at a fraction of the cost of traditional public schools. Does Cleveland have what it takes to fundamentally reform its K-12 education system and become a leader in 21st-century education?

Texas Text Book Wars

Atheists Are Dumb -- Holy Books for Porn

(HotAir h/t)

New Documentary - Bringing the War To Campus, Anti-Zionism

Democrats Show Their Real Agenda - ad infinitum

I had to post all of George Will's article, the article can be found at Townhall.com and is entitled "The Dependency Agenda"

WASHINGTON -- Only two things are infinite -- the expanding universe and Democrats' hostility to the District of Columbia's school choice program. Killing this small program, which currently benefits 1,300 mostly poor and minority children, is odious and indicative. It is a small piece of something large -- the Democrats' dependency agenda, which aims to multiply the ways Americans are dependent on government. 

Democrats, in their canine devotion to teachers unions, oppose empowering poor children to escape dependency on even terrible government schools. Unions and their poodles say school choice siphons money from public schools. But federal money funds D.C.'s program, so killing it denies education money to D.C. while increasing the number of pupils D.C. must support. 

Most Democrats favor a "public option" -- a government health insurance program. They say there is insufficient competition among the 1,300 private providers of insurance, so people should not be dependent on those insurers. But tuition vouchers redeemable at private as well as public schools is a "private option" providing minimal competition with public schools. Government, with 89 percent of the pupils, dominates education grades K through 12. So, do Democrats favor vouchers to reduce American's dependence on government education? Of course not. 

For congressional Democrats, however, expanding dependency on government is an end in itself. They began the Obama administration by expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program. It was created for children of the working poor but the expansion made millions of middle-class children eligible -- some in households earning $125,000. The aim was to swell the number of people who grow up assuming that dependency on government health care is normal. 

Many Democrats favor -- as Barack Obama did in 2003 -- a "single-payer" health insurance system, which means universal dependency on government. The "public option" insurance proposal was to be a step toward that. So was the proposed "alternative" of making 55- to 64-year-olds eligible for Medicare. Both of these dependency multipliers will be revived. 

As will the Democrats' drive for "cramdown" legislation that would empower government (courts) to shred mortgage contracts, thereby making borrowers eager to embrace dependency on judges. Soon, the two most important financial decisions most families make -- to get a mortgage and a college tuition loan -- will almost always be transactions with the government. 

The government used TARP funds not for their stipulated purpose of buying the "toxic assets" of banks, but to pull auto companies and other economic entities into the spreading web of dependency. Servile -- because dependent -- banks were pliable during the farce of Chrysler's bankruptcy, but secured creditors resisted when settled law was disregarded. Nevertheless, those creditors received less per dollar than did an unsecured creditor, the United Auto Workers, which relishes dependency on government as an alternative to economic realism. 

Democrats' "reforms" of the financial sector may aim to reduce financial institutions to dependent appendages of the government. By reducing banks to public utilities, credit, which is the lifeblood of capitalism, could be priced and allocated by government. 

Many Democrats are untroubled by governments' rampant abuses of eminent-domain powers. Wealthy interests embrace dependency on collaborative governments that seize property from less wealthy people and transfer it to those wealthy interests who will pay more taxes to those governments. 

Many Democrats, opposing the Supreme Court, advocate new campaign finance "reforms" that will further empower government to regulate the quantity, timing and content of speech about government. Otherwise voters will hear more such speech than government considers good for them. Such paternalism is American progressivism's oldest tradition. 

A century ago, Herbert Croly published "The Promise of American Life," a book -- still in print -- that was prophetic about today's progressives. Contemplating with distaste America's "unregenerate citizens," he said "the average American individual is morally and intellectually inadequate to a serious and consistent conception of his responsibilities." Therefore, Croly said, national life should be a "school" taught by the government: "The exigencies of such schooling frequently demand severe coercive measures, but what schooling does not?" Unregenerate Americans would be "saved many costly perversions" if "the official schoolmasters are wise, and the pupils neither truant nor insubordinate." 

Subordination is dependency seen from above. Today, it is seen approvingly by progressives imposing, from above, their dependency agenda. 

There is no school choice here; no voucher will enable Americans to escape from enveloping dependency on this "government as school." The dependency agenda is progressive education for children of all ages, meaning all ages treated as children.

Thomas Sowell on Intellectuals and Society - 37 minutes

The author of more than a dozen books, Dr. Sowell is now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. In his newest work, Intellectuals and Society, he will discuss why so many disasters of our time have been committed by experts or intellectuals. You may remember FDRs Brain Trust which according to later studies is a prolonged the depression by several years. The wiz kids at the pentagon under McNamara who managed to mess up the Vietnam War, you can run through an impressive list of things, of disasters brought about by people with very high IQs

A Belated Tribute to Max Hartwell

The Mont Pelerin Society. Early 1980s.

Third Row: Ed Feulner, Allen Wallis, Carl-Johan Westholm, Rose Friedman, Peter Beanholz, Charles King Arthur Seldon, Leon Liggio

Second Row: Max Hartwell, Henry Maivne, Gary Becker, Richard Ware, Arvid Fredburg, Ralph Harris

Front Row: Antonio Martino, Herbet Giersch, Manuel Ayau, James Buchanan, Milton Friedman, Chiaki Nishiyama

I know JD Sallinger died, but I was not a fan... sorry. However, when someone like Max Hartwell passes, I will write a bit about his from obituary sources. First, I must say that the only thing that unites Professor Hartwell and I is our passion for common sense economics devoid of a "statist" mindset... that's it, that's about as much as I know about economics and where Hartwell sores above the rest.

(The Independent)

...Hartwell was a great teacher with an irreverent sense of humour. He loved provoking people and students who could stand up to him became his friends; many are now eminent themselves. Most of the articles he published originated as lectures. His collection The Industrial Revolution and Economic Growth (1971) stands well-used on the shelves of economic historians throughout the world, and still informs many lectures on the subject.

After he semi-retired from Oxford in 1977, Hartwell taught every autumn at the University of Virginia and often at the University of Chicago. A keen controversialist, he was long a member (and for two years President) of the Mont Pelerin Society founded in 1947 by Friedrich Hayek to defend liberal thinking; Hartwell was given to musing about Hayek's reference to the unintended consequences of well-intentioned actions. ...

(Online Library of Liberty)

We are sad to note the passing in March of Ronald Max Hartwell who was one of the greatest economic historians of the industrial revolution. Beginning his career in a small town in country New South Wales, Australia he later moved to Oxford University where he spent his academic life at Nuffield College. Hartwell challenged the Marxist orthodoxy which argued that the Industrial Revolution was largely a disaster for the working class. On the contrary, Hartwell urged, it lead to the greatest expansion of wealth for ordinary people that the world has ever seen. He was interviewed by Patrick O'Brien in one of Liberty Fund's Intellectual Portrait Series in 2000. A DVD of this interview can be purchased, the audio track is available online in various formats, or one can listen online here:

 

An article for those that like to chew on history:

• Taxation in England During the Industrial Revolution

Is Teaching American History Unconstitutional?

 The Following is an email sent to me from Wall Builders:

Occasionally, the Secular and Religious Left go beyond their normal anti-religious bigotry to make claims that are just too outrageous to be ignored. This week provided such an example. (While this email is longer than normal, I think you'll find it filled with useful and interesting information.)

Several months ago, I was one of six expert reviewers appointed by the 15-member elected Texas State Board of Education to give input into the drafting of the 2010 history and social studies standards for textbooks. (This is a task I have previously performed in other states.) Although these standards we formulate will initially apply to Texas students, they will soon become the standards used in textbooks across the nation.

Last year, writing teams of Texas teachers drafted the 2010 proposed standards. We, the expert reviewers, were asked to point out where we thought changes should be made; the State Board of Education would then make their decision about which (if any) of our hundreds of proposed suggestions to adopt.

When I reviewed the proposed standards, I found many reasons for concern. The writing teams had recommended the removal of Nathan Hale, Daniel Boone, and General George Patton; they eradicated Columbus Day, Martin Luther King Day, and Christmas (but they did add Diwali as a holiday). They also declared that to say there was "an American love of individualism, inventiveness, and freedom" was to express inappropriate "value language," and they also rejected the concept of identifying specific beliefs that contributed to our "national identity." In fact, they declared that students needed to be shaped "for responsible citizenship in a global society," but not citizenship in American society. And instead of an emphasis on the positive things about America (i.e., American Exceptionalism), America was often shown as fault-ridden – as a global villain.

I made known my opposition to these and other positions in my official reviews and offered suggestions for positive change. My first review (from July, 2009) is posted on the state website, as is my second review (from September 2009).

Those two official reviews were 43,538 words in length, and contained three mentions of Christianity. In the first review, I pointed out how early colonial Christian leaders such as William Penn and Roger Williams insisted on having written constitutions to limit the government; I also showed how American Christians and Jews cooperated together in the American Revolution. In the second review, I noted the current polling on religious affiliation in America to demonstrate that the mention of Christmas should be reinstated in the standards. Those three simple mentions of Christianity caused the Left to explode.

Groups such as the Texas Freedom Network (the state arm of the radical People for the American Way) joined with other radicals in the Religious Left to denounce my mentions of Christianity. They nationally distributed a press release of outrageously false claims that were soon parroted by ABC, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, etc.

On Wednesday, January 13, the Texas State Board of Education met to begin the process of voting on the final recommendations for social studies textbooks; many of the board members know me very well and are very familiar with the lies of the Left (having themselves been subjected to them on many occasions). Hopefully, they will reinstate traditional American heroes and patriotic values, focus on the teaching of history rather than modern pop culture, and include coverage of good characteristics about America. Not surprisingly, however, the anti-religious secularist bigots made known their presence (and their ridiculous claims) at the meeting.

One of those in the Religious Left is Christian secularist, Dr. Derek Davis, Dean of Humanities at Mary Hardin Baylor (a Baptist University) and director of the school's Center for Religious Liberty. Although he heads a department at a major Christian university, he is a national evangelist for a completely secular public square; and based on his previous statements, he apparently wants to see all mentions of Christianity confined, like pornography, to the privacy of one's own personal life.

Dr. Davis amazingly asserts in the Houston Chronicle that a mention of Christianity in American history standards will "violate the Constitution" because it will portray "the United States as a Christian nation in some legal sense."

While there is no such recommendation in the standards, consider the stupidity of what he purports. According to Dr. Davis, it would "violate the Constitution" if the history texts were to include information from the more than 300 court rulings over the past two centuries that have declared America to be a Christian nation. Imagine! He believes it would be unconstitutional to let students know what courts have affirmed for 200 years!

He similarly believes that it would be unconstitutional for students to see the public declarations of American presidents on the same subject – declarations such as:

Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on that God Who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty [i.e., the Civil War]. ¹ PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN

No candid observer will deny that whatever of good there may be in our American civilization is the product of Christianity. ² The teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally impossible for us to figure to ourselves what that life would be if these teachings were removed. ³   PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT

America was born a Christian nation – America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture. ⁴  PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON

American life is builded, and can alone survive, upon . . . the fundamental philosophy announced by the Savior nineteen centuries ago. ⁵  PRESIDENT HERBERT HOOVER

If the spirit of God is not in us and if we will not prepare to give all that we have and all that we are to preserve Christian civilization in our land, we shall go to destruction. ⁶  We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a Nation without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic. ⁷  PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT

This is a Christian Nation. More than a half century ago that declaration was written into the decrees of the highest court in this land. ⁸  In this great country of ours has been demonstrated the fundamental unity of Christianity and democracy. ⁹  PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN

We are Christian nations, deeply conscious that the foundation of all liberty is religious faith. ¹⁰  PRESIDENT DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

In these last 200 years, we have guided the building of our Nation and our society by those principles and precepts brought to earth nearly 2,000 years ago on that first Christmas. ¹¹  PRESIDENT LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON

Let us remember that as a Christian nation . . . that we have a charge and a destiny. ¹²  PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON

Of the many influences that have shaped the United States of America into a distinctive Nation and people, none may be said to be more fundamental and enduring than the Bible. ¹³  PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN

According to Dr. Davis, it would "violate the Constitution" to present these, or the hundreds of similar statements by our elected presidents, or to tell students what our federal and state courts have repeatedly declared! Amazing!

Apparently, Dr. Davis (and the others among the growing group of militant so-called "Christian" secularists) has not read the Constitution – or even the decisions by modern liberal Supreme Courts that have held that history cannot be censored simply because it is Christian. Nevertheless, Dr. Davis and his cohorts have found it a useful tactic to claim that something with which they disagree is "unconstitutional."

We need to stop the use of this ridiculous tactic. How?

FIRST, begin with the wise recommendation of Founding Father John Jay:

Every member of the State ought diligently to read and to study the constitution of his country. . . . By knowing their rights, they will sooner perceive when they are violated and be the better prepared to defend and assert them. ¹⁴

SECOND, the next time the Left claims something is "unconstitutional," insist that they prove it by citing the relevant part of the Constitution.

FINALLY, when the intolerant anti-religious bigots try to intimidate Americans from presenting an accurate view of American history, let's make our voices heard on talk shows and in letters to the editors, denouncing their attempt to rewrite American history and censor expressions of religious faith.

It's time for some new voices to be heard in the debate – the voices of common sense, well-informed citizens who have no agenda but to see the best for our great country. It's time for your voice to be heard!

God Bless!

 David Barton

_______________________________________________________
[1] Abraham Lincoln, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Roy P. Basler, editor (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), Vol. IV, p. 271, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861.
[2] "Our Nation, A Product of Christianity," Springfield Republican, 1884.
[3] Theodore Roosevelt: The Man as I Knew Him, Ferdinand Cowle Iglehart, D. D. (New York: The Christian Herald, 1919), pp. 307-311.
[4] Woodrow Wilson, The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, Arthur S. Link, editor (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1977), Vol. 23, p. 20; "An Address in Denver on the Bible, May 7, 1911."
[5] American Presidency Project, "Herbert Hoover: Radio Address to the Nation on Unemployment Relief, October 18, 1931" (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=22855).
[6] American Presidency Project, "Franklin D. Roosevelt: Address at Dedication of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, September 2nd, 1940" (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=16002).
[7] American Presidency Project, "Franklin D. Roosevelt: Statement on the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Printing of the English Bible, October 6th, 1935" (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=14960).
[8] American Presidency Project, "Harry S. Truman: Exchange of Messages With Pope Pius XII, August 28, 1947" (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=12746).
[9] American Presidency Project, "Harry S. Truman: Address at the Lighting of the National Community Christmas Tree on the White House Grounds," December 24, 1946" (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=12569).
[10] American Presidency Project, "Dwight D. Eisenhower: Address Before the Council of the Organization of American States, April 12th, 1953" (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9816).
[11] Presidency Project, "Lyndon B. Johnson: Remarks at the Lighting of the Nation's Christmas Tree. December 22, 1963." (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=26587).
[12] American Presidency Project, "Richard Nixon: Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, February 1st, 1972" (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=3597).
[13] American Presidency Project, "Ronald Reagan: Proclamation 5018 – Year of the Bible, 1983, February 3rd, 1983" (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=40728).
[14] John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, editor (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1890), Vol. I, pp. 163-164, from his Charge to the Grand Jury of Ulster County, September 9, 1777.

O Cartoons

Obama's Czar Pushed Anal Sex in Parks with Strangers (Gateway Pundit Import -- Gateway Has Led In This Story) - The Progressive Future is Now!

Fistgate VI: Obama’s Safe Schools Czar’s Teen Conference Literature Pushed Anal Sex in Parks With Strangers

Thursday, December 10, 2009, 3:50 PM

Jim Hoft

In March 2000 the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) organization of Massachusetts held its 10 Year Anniversary GLSEN/Boston conference at Tufts University. This conference was fully supported by the Massachusetts Department of Education, the Safe Schools Program, the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, and some of the presenters even received federal money. During the 2000 conference, workshop leaders led a “youth only, ages 14-21″ session that offered lessons in “fisting” a dangerous sexual practice. During the same workshop an activist asked 14 year-old students, “Spit or swallow?… Is it rude?” The unbelievable audio clip is posted here. Barack Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings is the founder of GLSEN. He was paid $273,573.96 as its executive director in 2007. Jennings was the keynote speaker at the 2000 GLSEN conference.

Unfortunately for GLSEN, undercover journalists with Mass Resistance recorded these outrageous sessions at Tufts University. The audio was later leaked to a local radio station. This created such an uproar that GLSEN leaders were forced to apologize for their disgusting behavior.

Despite the controversy, Barack Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings and his GLSEN organization did nothing to clean up their act. In fact in 2001 activists handed out “fisting kits” to the children and teachers who attended the GLSEN conference.

But that’s not all. The children who attended Kevin Jennnings’ GLSEN 2005 Conference also left with their own “Little Black Book – Queer in the 21st Century”.

Here’s one page from that Black Book for teens:

The entire Little Black Book is posted here.

And, here’s the transcript from item #3 above:

“No Dookie On Your Noodle! Nobody knows better than queer men that shit happens. It’s just a fact of life…and buttsex. While there are steps to take to avoid a mess, they’re not always practical for the boy on the go. Condoms allow you a certain freedom that can be a great selling point if you’re cruising the park and don’t want stray spunk on your new polyester shirt…”

So, basically, in the crudest language imaginable, GLSEN recommended that “boys” go out cruising for anonymous anal sex in public parks with strangers.

Thanks to a reader for pointing this out.

Today Kevin Jennings, the founder of GLSEN, is Barack Obama’s Safe Schools Czar.

There’s more to come.

UPDATE: Grassroots Nation has started a petition to fire Kevin Jennings.
—Please think of your kids and go sign it now!

Related Posts:
** Breaking: Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Is Promoting Child Porn in the Classroom– Kevin Jennings and the GLSEN Reading List
** Breaking: Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Is Promoting Porn in the Classroom– Kevin Jennings and the GLSEN Reading List (Part II)
** Breaking: Obama’s Safe Schools Czar’s Question to 14 Year Olds: “Spit vs. Swallow?… Is it Rude?” (audio-video)
** Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Promoted “Fisting” to Children (Video)
** Fistgate II: High School Students Given “Fisting Kits” At Kevin Jennings’ GLSEN Conference (Photo)
** Fistgate III: Obama’s Safe Schools Czar’s “Black Book” For Kids Included Tips on Fisting & Pi$$ing on Your Partner
** Fistgate IV: Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Passed Out Gay Bar Guides to Teens at GLSEN Events

Who Is One of the Most Dangerous Men In America? Hint, He Is An Obama Czar

Fistgate: Obama chief 'knew' of 'disgusting' sex subjects

Jennings was co-chairman of committee that set up statewide program

....The congressional campaign to remove Jennings is available online under the website StopJennings.org. The site tells why signers believe Jennings is unfit for the office.

"We respectfully request that you remove Kevin Jennings, the Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, from your administration. It is clear that Mr. Jennings lacks the appropriate qualifications and ethical standards to serve in this capacity."

The letter was signed by U.S. Reps. Doug Lamborn of Colorado, Steve King of Iowa, Duncan Hunter of California, Darrell Issa of California, Paul Broun of Georgia, Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania and others. The lawmakers pointed out Jennings "has played an integral role in promoting homosexuality and pushing a pro-homosexual agenda in America's schools."....

As of today, 53 members of Congress have joined the effort to remove Jennings, who has described how he developed the strategy to use the word "safe" to promote homosexuality in Massachusetts schools.

Democratic Filth! Obama's "Safe-School Czar" Supplies Students with "Fisting Kits"

• Kevin Jennings, NAMBLA: Media Matters WRONG on Kevin Jennings, NAMBLA
• Kevin Jennings, NAMBLA, and Harry Hay: More Evidence of Hay’s Involvement with NAMBLA
• Obama Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings, Henry Hay, and NAMBLA: Jennings Faces Scrutiny over Purported Speech Praising Hay
• Media Matters: The Left’s Media Attack Watch Dog

(Drudge Report h/t -- Big Government import)

UPDATE: Year After Reprimand, Obama 'Safe School Czar' Run Seminar Handed Out 'Fisting Kit'... (Drudge Headline)

In March 2000 the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) organization of Massachusetts held its 10 Year Anniversary GLSEN/Boston conference at Tufts University. This conference was fully supported by the Massachusetts Department of Education, the Safe Schools Program, the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, and some of the presenters even received federal money. During the 2000 conference, workshop leaders led a “youth only, ages 14-21″ session that offered lessons in “fisting” a dangerous sexual practice. During another workshop an activist asked 14 year-old students, “Spit or swallow?… Is it rude?” The unbelievable audio clip is posted here. Barack Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings is the founder of GLSEN. He was paid $273,573.96 as its executive director in 2007. Jennings was the keynote speaker at the 2000 GLSEN conference.

Photo: This kit for fisting was distributed by Planned Parenthood at Fistgate II. (Mass News)

Unfortunately for GLSEN, undercover journalists with Mass Resistance recorded these outrageous sessions. The audio was later leaked to a local radio station. This created such an uproar that GLSEN leaders were forced to apologize for their disgusting behavior.

Thanks to Soros-linked Media Matters we now know that GLSEN director, and current Obama Safe Schools Czar, Kevin Jennings was confronted on the vile content discussed at the children’s conference.

“Like the Parents Rights Coalition and the Department of Education, GLSEN is also troubled by some of the content that came up during this workshop,” said Kevin Jennings, national executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

He said people who run workshops in the future will get clearer guidelines, though Jennings said the network’s annual conference at Tufts University should not be judged on the 30-student seminar “What They Didn’t Tell You About Queer Sex and Sexuality in Health Class.”

“We need to make our expectations and guidelines to outside facilitators much more clear,” said Jennings. “Because we are surprised and troubled by some of the accounts we’ve heard.”

But despite Media Matters’ claims, Kevin Jennings and his GLSEN organization did nothing to clean up their act. In fact in 2001 activists handed out “fisting kits” to the children and teachers who attended the GLSEN conference.

That’s correct. Fisting kits.

At Kevin Jennings’ 2001 GLSEN Conference an estimated 400 student attendees were given their own “fisting kit.”

Mass News reported on the 2001 conference:

Fistgate II was held on Saturday in the same building at Tufts University as last year with the same message about how to practice homosexual sex.

More students attended this year. Out of approximately 650 attendees, about 400 of those were students.

Kits of plastic gloves intended for “fisting” or oral sex were distributed at Planned Parenthood’s table in the lobby.

Public funds were used for the event with at least two school buses being used to transport students, from Methuen High School and Marblehead Public Schools. Adam Glick, Conference Coordinator, said he did not know how the buses were paid for. Other children were transported by public school teachers in private cars.

The private homosexual sponsor, GLSEN, is given state funds for many purposes and does not publicly report on how the money is spent.

There was a heightened sense of security with many Tufts campus police being highly visible in order to stop parents from seeing what occurred at the conference.

Although Tufts University was able to claim ignorance about the event last year, they obviously became complicit this year when they welcomed the conference back and provided the security muscle to keep the strategy sessions and indoctrination of the children running smoothly.

Founding Bloggers has a photo of one of the school buses that brought students to the conference.

Mass News had another article that described the contents of the “fisting kits” given to the students.

Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts distributed kits for fisting and oral sex. They contained a single plastic glove, a package of K-Y lubricant and instructions on how to make a “dental dam” out of the material.

The instructions explained how to cut up the glove with scissors until all that remains is a rubber rectangle with the “thumb” portion protruding from the middle. “Use the thumb space for your tongue,” say the directions.

The label on the ziplocked package says, “protects against STD’s,” and bears the Planned Parenthood logo and phone number.

GLSEN (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network) got into trouble last year for hosting a workshop that gave young teens explicit how-to instructions on homosexual sex practices such as “fisting.” The ensuing scandal was subsequently dubbed “Fistgate.”

Regarding “dental dams,” Dr. John Diggs, a specialist in internal medicine who lectures about STDs, said that the kits create a false sense of security. “I’ve written a brochure about this whole thing,” he said. “The way I describe it is, I ask ‘How many people want to take a bite of a sandwich without taking the wrapper off?’ ‘How many people want to suck on balloons?’ Nobody does.”

Again, Barack Obama’s Safe Schools Czar organized and sponsored this conference as executive director of GLSEN. His organization later pushed filthy books on America’s children.

Today he’s running the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools in the US Department of Education.
Do you feel safe now?

Teacher are Overpaid? WHAT! (An Old Article)

(Re-Post)

I was in a recent discussion about some issues and I wanted to post the article I was referring to here so that my archrival… no, really a friend, can come here and read the entire article for himself.  Thank God that someone at work drops off copies of the Wall Street Journal, cause I love their editorial page.  Nuf said, here’s the article:

Wall Street Opinion journal (Online)

IN CLASS

$34.06 an Hour

That's how much the average public school teachers makes. Is that "underpaid"?

By Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters

Friday, February 2, 2007

Who, on average, is better paid--public school teachers or architects? How about teachers or economists? You might be surprised to learn that public school teachers are better paid than these and many other professionals. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, public school teachers earned $34.06 per hour in 2005, 36% more than the hourly wage of the average white-collar worker and 11% more than the average professional specialty or technical worker.

In the popular imagination, however, public school teachers are underpaid. "Salaries are too low. We all know that," noted First Lady Laura Bush, expressing the consensus view. "We need to figure out a way to pay teachers more." Indeed, our efforts to hire more teachers and raise their salaries account for the bulk of public school spending increases over the last four decades. During that time per-pupil spending, adjusted for inflation, has more than doubled; overall we now annually spend more than $500 billion on public education.

The perception that we underpay teachers is likely to play a significant role in the debate to reauthorize No Child Left Behind. The new Democratic majority intends to push for greater education funding, much of which would likely to go toward increasing teacher compensation. It would be beneficial if the debate focused on the actual salaries teachers are already paid.

It would also be beneficial if the debate touched on the correlation between teacher pay and actual results. To wit, higher teacher pay seems to have no effect on raising student achievement. Metropolitan areas with higher teacher pay do not graduate a higher percentage of their students than areas with lower teacher pay.

In fact, the urban areas with the highest teacher pay are famous for their abysmal outcomes. Metro Detroit leads the nation, paying its public school teachers, on average, $47.28 per hour. That's 61% more than the average white-collar worker in the Detroit area and 36% more than the average professional worker. In metro New York, public school teachers make $45.79 per hour, 20% more than the average professional worker in that area. And in Los Angeles teachers earn $44.03 per hour, 23% higher than other professionals in the area.

Evidence suggests that the way we pay teachers is more important than simply what they take home. Currently salaries are determined almost entirely by seniority--the number of years in the classroom--and the number of advanced degrees accumulated. Neither has much to do with student improvement.

There is evidence that providing bonuses to teachers who improve the performance of their students does raise academic proficiency. With our colleagues at the University of Arkansas we found that a Little Rock program providing bonuses to teachers based on student gains on standardized tests substantially increased math proficiency. Researchers at the University of Florida recently found similar results in a nationwide evaluation.

Of course, public school teacher earnings look less impressive when viewed on an annual basis than on an hourly basis. This is because teachers tend to work fewer hours per year, with breaks during the summer, winter and spring. But comparing earnings on an annual basis would be inappropriate when teachers work significantly fewer hours than do other workers. Teachers can use that time to be with family, to engage in activities that they enjoy, or to earn additional money from other employment. That time off is worth money and cannot simply be ignored when comparing earnings. The appropriate way to compare earnings in this circumstance is to focus on hourly rates.

Moreover, the earnings data reported here, which are taken directly from the National Compensation Survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, do not include retirement and health benefits, which tend to be quite generous for public school teachers relative to other workers. Nor do they include the nonmonetary benefit of greater job security due to the tenure that most public school teachers enjoy.

Educators sometimes object that hourly earnings calculations do not capture the additional hours they work outside of school, but this objection is not very compelling. First, the National Compensation Survey is designed to capture all hours actually worked. And teachers are hardly the only wage earners who take work home with them.

The fact is that teachers are better paid than most other professionals. What matters is the way that we pay public school teachers, not the amount. The next time politicians call for tax increases to address the problem of terribly underpaid public school teachers, they might be reminded of these facts.

Mr. Greene holds the endowed chair of education reform at the University of Arkansas and is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, where Mr. Winters is a senior research associate. Their report, "How Much Are Public School Teachers Paid?," was released this week.

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